CBS and Turner Sports analysts talk up Syracuse despite slump

By Pete Dougherty

Published 9:29 pm, Tuesday, March 11, 2014

The question, of course, isn't whether the Syracuse men's basketball team will make the NCAA Tournament field. As in just about every year, that is a given.

What the team's followers wonder is whether the Orange's recent slump has played them out of a No. 1 seed and possibly a return trip to the Final Four.

CBS and Turner Sports held their annual media seminar Tuesday in advance of televising all 67 games of the tournament. Among the numerous game and studio analysts present were some who believe folks shouldn't write off Syracuse too quickly.

"I've liked them all year long," said Dan Bonner, who will work his 20th NCAA Tournament as a game analyst. "They're a potential Final Four team if they can get their offense untracked."

Ranked seventh by The Associated Press and 250th among all 351 Division I teams in points per game (68.2), the Orange have scored more than 75 points only once in their past 19 games.

Syracuse (27-4) heads to its first ACC Tournament this week, having lost four of its past six. That was after a 25-0 start and No. 1 national ranking.

"People have been too quick to swing the pendulum away from Syracuse because of this little speed bump," studio analyst Seth Davis said. "Let's see what they do at the ACC Tournament. I still think they're a Final Four team."

"If you look at the elite teams — Arizona, Florida, Syracuse, — they're not overwhelming offensive teams," said Greg Anthony, who will work his first Final Four as a game analyst. "Those teams play a lot of games in the 60s. That is a concern, because any time you shrink a game, you increase the margin of error for your opponent if they're not as good. Now a guy who has a lights-out shooting night could determine the outcome."

The consensus seemed to be that Syracuse could get one of the four regional top seeds by winning the ACC Tournament.

Then again, Syracuse made it to the national semifinals last year as a No. 4 seed.

"I heard (coach Jim) Boeheim, after the Georgia Tech loss, people asked him if he was worried that his seed was going to dip," Bonner said. "And he said, 'Look, it doesn't matter what your seed is if you play well, and it doesn't matter what your seed is if you play poorly.'"

Syracuse has been hindered by injuries to center Baye Moussa Keita (right knee) and forward Jerami Grant (back). Both are playing but with reduced minutes.

"They haven't been healthy," Davis said. "People aren't locked into that. Basically (Boeheim) only plays six guys. You lose one, you've lost a lot. You have no margin for error."

"I've seen them be bad offensively with a healthy Jerami Grant," Bonner said. "They have to make some perimeter shots. I don't want to put all the burden on Trevor Cooney, because that's not fair. Tyler Ennis has to be a little more aggressive about shooting from the perimeter successfully. Coaches always say they want shooters, but they don't. They want makers."